Why the Chicago Bears must decide to start Justin Fields now

The Chicago Bears should not waste one of Justin Fields rookie contract years

When it comes to successful teams in the NFL, the Chicago Bears have been one of those teams. I know that’s hard to believe, but the team has made the playoffs two of the last three years. That is not something to ignore. Ryan Pace has followed a recipe that many teams have used lately — building around a quarterback on his rookie deal. The team did this with Mitch Trubisky and it was only somewhat successful. This is partly due to the fact Trubisky was nothing better than average.

Well, the Chicago Bears cannot afford to waste one of Justin Fields’ rookie contract years. The team has five years to do something while Fields is under contract with a rookie value. This is only if the team picks up his fifth-year option. This will obviously happen if Fields proves he is a top quarterback in the league. After that fifth season, the team will have to pay Fields through the roof. Is it really a good idea to waste one of these years?

From a salary cap perspective, the team can’t “waste” Fields’ first. season because all of the money has already been spent for this season. There isn’t a way to build more around him this year. However, from a development standpoint, having Justin Fields sit on the bench this year is not going to help in the same way as first-team reps would. Now, you are talking about 2022 being the year that Fields earns his lumps. Allowing him to do it now makes more sense.